Today our emergency care system faces an epidemic of crowded emergency departments, patients boarding in hallways waiting to be admitted, and daily ambulance diversions. Hospital-Based Emergency Care addresses the difficulty of balancing the roles of hospital-based emergency and trauma care, not simply urgent and lifesaving care, but also safety net care for uninsured patients, public health surveillance, disaster preparation, and adjunct care in the face of increasing patient volume and limited resources. This new book considers the multiple aspects to the emergency care system in the United States by exploring its strengths, limitations, and future challenges. The wide range of issues covered includes:


• The role and impact of the emergency department within the larger hospital and health care system.


• Patient flow and information technology.


• Workforce issues across multiple disciplines.


• Patient safety and the quality and efficiency of emergency care services.


• Basic, clinical, and health services research relevant to emergency care.


• Special challenges of emergency care in rural settings.


Hospital-Based Emergency Care is one of three books in the Future of Emergency Care series. This book will be of particular interest to emergency care providers, professional organizations, and policy makers looking to address the deficiencies in emergency care systems.


Table of Contents


Front Matter
Summary
1 Introduction
2 The Evolving Role of Hospital-Based Emergency Care
3 Building a 21st-Century Emergency Care System
4 Improving the Efficiency of Hospital-Based Emergency Care
5 Technology and Communications
6 The Emergency Care Workforce
7 Disaster Preparedness
8 Enhancing the Emergency Care Research Base
Appendix A Committee and Subcommittee Membership
Appendix B Biographical Information for Main Committee and
Hospital- Based Emergency Care Subcommittee
Appendix C List of Presentations to the Committee
Appendix D List of Commissioned Papers
Appendix E Statistics on Emergency and Trauma Care Utilization
Appendix F Historical Development of Hospital-Based Emergency and
Trauma Care
Appendix G Recommendations and Responsible Entities from the Future
of Emergency Care Series
Index